Big D And The Kids Table

For The Damned, The Dumb & The Delirious

It appears I missed out on a Big D And The Kids Table album between this review of their sixth album "For The Damned, The Dumb & The Delirious" and their fourth album "Strictly Rude" from 2007. Somehow "Fluent In Stroll" passed underneath my radar all the way up to the point of writing this review, so apologies for that to any of you ska-punk fans lurking behind your screens. Nonetheless, it seems like the band continues their fun-filled, fast-paced approach to third wave ska punk, so not much has changed in four years.

And that's a good thing. While you can criticize Big D for sounding eerily similar to Streetlight Manifesto and Suburban Legends (vice/versa, of course), it simply doesn't matter when their expression is this much fun. Plenty of trumpets, saxophone, trombone and a consistently enjoyable up-tempo ska riff song in song out ensures that there's plenty of dancing to be done during any a Big D show. "Rotten", "Brain's-A-Bomb", "Walls" are also full of potential sing alongs because of the catchy vocals, complemented by plenty of quick "here we go"'s as cues for skanking.

Variety hasn't been forgotten either. Aside from the usual ska instruments, Big D throw in some accordion, ukulele, organs, fiddle and melodica to spice things up. The same applies to the lyrical themes, too. Some songs are simply about partying, drinking beers and playing ska, such as the supremely laid back "Stringers", but on the other extreme you have political songs like "It's Raining Zombies On Wall Street" which take stabs at the corruption of the financial world. It also contains a high-energy d-beat to it, making it one of the fastest cuts on the record, recalling RX Bandits' prog-ska in places. Then again on the opposing side, a song like "Roxbury" slows things down to a reggae/ska hybrid sound, which closely resembles the style purveyed by Sublime. All styles work equally well, and are sure to be a blast whenever Big D plays live near your area. The music world hasn't exactly seen an overwhelming amount of ska records as of late, so here's one solid one for the (closet?) skanker in you.